Ohio Drilling Is ‘Godsend’

By 2015, industry officials believe oil and natural gas producers will spend $34 billion for exploration and development across Ohio.

“I think this is going to be a godsend for this part of the state,” said Terry Fleming, executive director of the Ohio Petroleum Council, during the Tuesday oil and gas forum at Bridgeport High School. “No one spends this kind of money unless they expect a return.”

The Ohio Energy Resource Alliance and We The People Ohio Valley sponsored the session.

Terry Fleming, executive director of the Ohio Petroleum Council, left, and Tom Stewart, executive vice president of the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, listen during a Tuesday forum at Bridgeport High School.

Referring to a report by the Ohio Oil & Gas Energy Education Program, Shawn Bennett, field director for Energy In Depth-Ohio, said the industry would likely create thousands of jobs in Belmont, Jefferson, Monroe and Harrison counties. The report concludes that gas and oil companies such as Exxon Mobil and Chesapeake Energy will spend about $34 billion in exploration and development, midstream, royalty and lease expenditures in Ohio by 2015.

“I am very tired of legislators in Cincinnati and Cleveland calling for five-year moratoriums” on fracking, Fleming said. “A lot of people I see around the state scream, they yell, they wave signs – they don’t have the facts.”